Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency in the world, continues to be the benchmark for all crypto coins today. It leads other virtual currencies by a good margin when it comes to the market cap and overall adoption. Venezuela ranks 3rd on the Global Crypto Adoption Index, implying that it’s amongst nations with the highest usage of cryptocurrencies in the world. Venezuelans don’t just buy and hold Bitcoin as many investors do, rather they use BTC to purchase day-to-day goods and services from a wide range of merchants that readily accept BTC payments. You can buy Bitcoin in Venezuela from many different sources, including crypto exchanges and brokers, using regular payment options such as bank transfers, credit/debit cards, and Paypal. Let’s learn more about it below.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms like Binance P2P or LocalBitcoins are considered the best places to buy Bitcoin in Venezuela, with many locals using them actively to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. Though these platforms also offer support for the local Bolivar (VES), most people now use US Dollars to make Bitcoin purchases. Apart from these, you can also make comfortable BTC purchases from a good number of reputable and regulated crypto brokers serving the Venezuelan market. We’ve shortlisted the best ones for you below.
Unlike cryptocurrency exchanges where buyers and sellers directly trade with each other, crypto brokers work as the mediators between the crypto buyers/sellers and the overall market. Venezuela has many crypto brokerage platforms running in the country, with the top ones regulated by leading authorities and manned by seasoned experts in the Latin American region. Below you can learn more about how to buy Bitcoin easily in Venezuela with these brokerage portals.
Registering with a reputable broker starts with carrying out some due diligence to locate one. You can compare various popular platforms based on parameters like their transaction limits, regulatory status, supported currencies, payment options, security measures, customer care and overall reputation. Signing up is a fairly simple process involving the input of some basic details like your contact number, name, address and valid email ID.
All regulated brokers will ask you to verify your identity before using their services. This is in compliance with their KYC (Know Your Customer) processes and is mandated by International AML (Anti-Money Laundering) and CFT (Combating the Financing of Terrorism) laws. In most cases, you’ll need to upload a government-issued photo ID and a separate proof of address for this purpose. Abiding by the KYC norms is important for everyone involved as it keeps bad elements at bay.
Post-identity verification, you’ll have the option to deposit funds using a payment method of your choice. The regulated brokers are open to many payment options, including credit/debit cards, bank transfers and third-party facilitators such as Skrill, Neteller and PayPal. You can pick any that suits you the best and deposit the required amount of funds for the BTC purchase.
Using an online broker in Venezuela to buy or trade Bitcoin will involve opening long and short positions on the cryptocurrency. This can be done by either buying and selling the actual coin or trading it through a derivative like a CFD. A long position is taken when you expect the BTC’s price to rise in value, while a short position is taken to exploit a downward price movement.
When you trade on eToro, a well-known online broker, you buy BTC by opening a long position on the cryptocurrency, without leverage. You’ll register profit if Bitcoin’s price rises, and you can take home the gains by closing your trade in a timely manner.
A short position on Bitcoin can be taken using a CFD (contract for difference), wherein you’d be simply betting that the value of Bitcoin will drop, with no actual exchange of BTC occurring. If Bitcoin does drop in value, your profit will be the difference in the Bitcoin CFD’s value at the time of opening and closing the short position.
You can use different order types, including market orders, limit orders, stop-loss orders and trailing stop orders to manually or automatically enter/exit your trades at the most opportune price points.
While you can close your trades manually anytime you feel the BTC price is right, thus guarding your profits or preventing losses appropriately, it is also possible to automate this activity through multiple order types as discussed in the last point. Let’s take the example of a long position on Bitcoin to understand it better. In this scenario, you can specify take-profit and stop-loss points during the trade setup. Thereafter, your position will automatically close as soon as Bitcoin’s price touches the take-profit or stop-loss point, thereby securing your profit and preventing further losses, respectively.
Being one of the top hotspots for Bitcoin trading activity today, Venezuela is host to many local and international cryptocurrency exchanges offering their services. You’ll get the choice of buying Bitcoin with the local Bolívar or US Dollars, as well as any other well-known crypto or fiat currency of your choice. Some of these trading platforms may focus specifically on the Latin American region, offering exclusive services to Venezuelan citizens. Below you can learn more on how to buy Bitcoin with the best crypto exchange in the country.
While some Bitcoin exchanges will make it mandatory for you to set up a crypto wallet beforehand, others may allow you to hold your funds in web wallets integrated into their platforms. Nonetheless, it is always recommended to move your Bitcoin and cryptocurrency to a self-owned external wallet for security reasons. Following are the two cryptocurrency wallet types that can be used for this purpose:
Software wallets – These are meant for mobile devices, desktop computers, and laptops, and are available for all major operating systems including Android, iOS, and Windows. Being constantly connected to the Internet makes them a type of hot wallet too, and resultantly exposes them slightly to potential hacks.
Hardware wallets – Sold as tiny USB-sized hardware devices, hardware wallets safeguard your cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin in an offline environment. However, these can be connected to the Internet anytime you need, for easy movement of crypto funds.
As mentioned earlier, there are various local and international crypto exchanges running in Venezuela, and you can pick one that best suits your requirements in terms of its fees, customer care, user interface, regulatory status, trading pairs, and payment methods. It is always better to sign up with a regulated portal, as it ought to provide greater security for your crypto holdings.
The exact payment method you choose will depend upon multiple factors including your personal preference, the availability of each method, your required speed of transaction, and the charges involved. It’s commonplace for Venezuelan crypto exchanges to accept credit/debit cards, PayPal, and bank transfers. Each payment mode has its own benefits and drawbacks. For instance, credit card/debit card deposits show up quickly, however, involve a higher fee; bank account transfers are inexpensive but have a longer processing time.
For placing an order to buy Bitcoin on an online exchange, you’ll need to select a trading pair like BTC/VES, BTC/USD, BTC/XRP, BTC/ADA and BTC/ETH that fits your requirements, enter the BTC amount, review the exchange rate at that point in time, followed by clicking the ‘Buy’ button to instantly execute the trade. You may even opt for a limit order to buy the same amount of BTC at a later time when the price has reached a specific level.
It’s a common practice amongst long-term Bitcoin investors to move their purchased BTC from the exchange-provided wallet to an external self-owned wallet. This is optional and recommended, but may not be practised by frequent BTC traders who prefer quick access to their crypto funds. You may use the withdrawal option on the crypto exchange to initiate such a transfer. Input the amount of BTC you’d like to transfer, followed by your wallet address, and you’ll be ready to transfer the funds.
There are many Bitcoin ATMs in multiple cities throughout Venezuela, and these can be found using websites like Coin ATM Radar. However, most people who buy and sell Bitcoin with cash opt for one of the multiple reputed peer-to-peer exchanges (P2P) operational in the country. Binance has also launched its P2P arm, called Binance P2P, to serve this market.
The Venezuelan government has gradually accepted that currency controls have worsened the country’s financial crisis. It has opened up to the use of US Dollar pegged stablecoins and other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin to deliver some kind of financial stability to the local Venezuelans. All crypto-related businesses operating in Venezuela are regulated by the SUNACRIP (National Superintendency of Cryptocurrencies). The country also legalised Bitcoin mining in September 2020, granting mining licenses through an Integral Miners Registry (RIM) and channelling all mining activity through a National Mining Pool (NMP), making the government responsible for overseeing and distributing rewards gained from it.
Here are three important tips that can help you significantly in making a timely, cost-effective and secure BTC purchase in Venezuela.
It’s very important that you carry out some thorough research to enter the market just at the right time and buy Bitcoin at a good price. One of the ways to do this is by studying the past price movements of BTC, and understanding the possible impact of various technical & fundamental factors on its future price movements.
No matter which trading platform you use, it will levy certain charges like deposit fees, transaction fees, withdrawal fees and spreads to get paid for its services. You should compare all such costs before signing up with any single platform. Doing so is very critical if you trade large volumes and it can help you minimise your overall costs in the long run too.
The safety and security processes of different trading platforms should also be carefully studied and compared before selecting any specific service provider. Going with a platform regulated by a leading authority normally takes care of this aspect to a good extent, as it will already have leading security protocols in place.
There are many trading platforms in Venezuela that will allow you to buy Bitcoin with the Bolívar (VES). However, the Bolívar has depreciated significantly against the US Dollar over the past decade, with 1 USD almost equal to 3.3 million Bolívar at the time of writing. Therefore, most Venezuelans choose to buy Bitcoin with either USD or some other popular fiat or cryptocurrency. Even if you choose to buy BTC with VES, the local currency will most likely be converted to USD by the platform for trading purposes, with a small percentage deducted on account of the exchange rate. This exchange rate should also be factored in the overall buying/trading activity.
Use a Bitcoin ATM to Buy BTC: As per Coin ATM Radar, there are many Bitcoin ATMs in Venezuela, where you can buy Bitcoin in person.
Other Ways to Get Bitcoin: Bitcoin mining is essentially about processing and validating complicated BTC transactions on Bitcoin’s blockchain and earning Bitcoin as a reward for the activity. While it serves as an excellent alternative means to organically obtain BTC, and has also been legalised in Venezuela, there’s a lot of government control exercised over it. Investing in Bitcoin via an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) is another well-known means through which many traders indirectly invest in the cryptocurrency and benefit from its price fluctuations. You can even acquire BTC by accepting it as a form of payment for selling goods & services in Venezuela.
Faced with hyperinflation, deepening tensions with the United States and halted oil operations, Venezuela is in a state of crisis today. However, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have provided a ray of hope to Venezuela’s citizens. A large number of Venezuelans who emigrated out of the country for better prospects use Bitcoin as a means to send money back home. It is also actively purchased to serve as a safe store of value in the country. Buying Bitcoin in Venezuela isn’t very difficult, and you can easily use the information detailed in this article to buy some for yourself.